Loose parts play
Join us for a series of design challenges using loose parts found at home!
Color Hunt!
With everyone out on rainbow hunts in our neighborhoods these days, I thought it might be fun to try out some different kinds of scavenger hunts right in your own home! You can do color hunts anywhere, but on these rainy April days, this makes a perfect extended play activity for being stuck indoors. First, you’ll need to find some kind of collection vessel like a basket, a box or a bag. You could also make a tape square on the floor or coffee table too. This is where you’ll curate your color collections. So how do you play? Easy! Pick a color and see if you can find 10 items around your house that are small and light enough for the kiddos to carry on their own. Maybe you choose the items, maybe your kiddo is the curator of objects! Once you’ve collected 1o, you can take turns hiding them throughout the house and searching for them! Take things up a notch and time them to see how fast they can find the objects, or make it 15 or 20 instead of just 10! Our youngest friends might want to start with just 5 or 6 items at first and work up to 10. Once you’ve tired of your color hunt, choose a new color and find new objects to do it all over again. Happy color hunting!
Can you make Your name?
Using loose parts from nature, the recycling bin, or even toys from around the house, can you make ALL the letters in your name? You might go outside and make a big temporary display on the grass and take a picture, like I did with Margaux’s name. Or maybe you’ll find smaller pieces and glue them down on a piece of paper or cardboard and make a more permanent art installation that you can display and keep for longer! Maybe you’ll feel really creative and spell out the letters in your last name too, or the names of your friends or family too! Moms, Dads, and other grown-ups, send us a picture of the final result so we can celebrate your children’s work from afar!
Can you build a home?
Since we are all playing at home right now, this design challenge invites you to build a home for someone (or something!). Pick a favorite toy and build it a home, or perhaps you want to create your home first and then find just the right little friend to live in it. You might use blocks, sticks, or logs for your home for small animal figurines, or maybe you’ll build a big home using cardboard boxes for a favorite stuffed animal. Maybe you’ll make a REALLY big home that YOU can fit inside, like a blanket fort! Maybe your fort will be temporary, like when you build with blocks. Or maybe you’ll use glue and/or tape and build a cardboard home that you can save and play with again and again! Don’t forget to decorate your home and perhaps consider these design questions as you build: How will your inhabitants stay dry in your home when it rains? Where will they sleep and eat in your home? How do they get in and out of your home?
What can you do with a tube?
We likely all have empty paper towel and/or toilet paper tubes laying around the house right now. Why not put them to good use? Our friends at school LOVE using these tubes for their inventions, designs and building creations, often referred to as “glue projects.” You don’t always need to use glue, but for many projects it definitely serves as the best binder. You can also use rubber bands, large twisty ties, tape, yarn or string, and more to fasten your tubes together, or to other loose parts. In this challenge, we are asking what can YOU do with a tube?! Now it’s time to put on your most creative hat and think about all the ways you could use a tube and show us what you make!! To help get you started, I’ll share two of my favorites. Fist, I like to tape two tubes together and decorate them to make a pair of binoculars for bird-watching out the window, or use just a single tube as a spy glass for pirate play! I also like to fasten one side shut with strong duct tape and fill my tube half way with sand or rice and then tape the other side shut too and decorate for a neat homemade musical instrument! Now it’s your turn… what can YOU do with a tube?! We can’t wait to see what you come up with, so parents, send us a picture please!